On Assignment
by VooDoo Lily
Summary: Claire shows up at Mercy Heights to do research for a class assignment. She learns some things concerning Peter's professional reputation and meets Emma. Implied Peter/Emma Spoilers for "Ink" and reference to "Hysterical Blindness"


Title: On Assignment

Summary: Claire shows up at Mercy Heights to do some research for a college assignment. She learns some things concerning Peter's professional reputation and meets Emma.

Notes: Inspired by heroesatheart124 and Lara-Van's stories of Claire noticing Peter's feelings for Emma, here's my own variation on the idea.

Claire Bennett walked through the sliding doors of the main entrance to Mercy Heights Hospital. Glancing around the white-walled and fluorescent-lit lobby, she approached the nurses' desk to ask to see Peter.

"Excuse me," she began, directing her attention to a redheaded nurse, "but I'm looking for someone. Peter Petrelli? He's a paramedic here…"

"Of course, Peter." The nurse checked the clock on the wall. "He should be coming off shift now."

"Is it a double or a triple this time?" a brown-haired nurse mumbled darkly from where she was sitting next to the redhead.

The first nurse gave her a disapproving look. "He's committed to saving lives. What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong is that for weeks, he was always the first on scene. Now, suddenly, after a lawsuit scare, his job performance has gone down. I think our resident glory hound made a mistake and got scared."

The redheaded nurse made a shushing sound and shot a meaningful look in Claire's direction. Her co-worker only shrugged her shoulders and flipped through some papers on a clipboard.

Claire blinked in amazement at what she had just heard. Peter had almost been sued? People thought he was seeking credit for saving lives? It seemed so ridiculous to her. The more she thought about it, the more it angered her.

"Hey," she snapped, leaning forward to address the dark-haired nurse. "Peter Petrelli is _not _a glory hound. He's a good person."

The nurse opened her mouth to reply, but her co-worker spoke first. "Peter!" the redhead exclaimed as the paramedic in question walked by the nurses' station. "You have a visitor." She pointed towards Claire.

The dark-haired man looked surprised to see her. "Claire? What are you doing here?"

She walked over to meet him. "I'm doing a class project about testing blood, remember? I left you a message asking if I could visit the hospital and take some pictures of lab equipment for my report."

"Oh, that's right. Yeah, I'm sorry, it's just—I've been really busy at work lately."

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Yeah, and I also heard you got sued?"

Peter took her by the arm and led her away until they were out of the nurses' earshot. He then stopped and spoke to her in a low voice. "How did you--?"

"Nurses' gossip."

Her uncle nodded in understanding. "That…got resolved. Everything's fine now." He began walking again, and Claire fell into step beside him.

"What did Nathan have to say about it?"

Peter was silent, making Claire stare at him. "Hold on, you didn't tell Nathan? Seriously?"

"I didn't tell Nathan because there wasn't anything to tell. I made a mistake and apologized, the lawsuit got dropped, end of story." He sounded mildly annoyed.

Claire decided to let him be. She didn't want to worsen his mood. She decided to change the subject and looked around the hallway they were in. "Where are we?"

"On our way to the blood lab. You said you wanted to take some pictures of blood-testing equipment, right?" Peter stopped in front of a door and held it open for her. "Well, here we are."

Claire entered the room. "Thanks." She glanced around at the empty room, filled with equipment and vials of blood. "Um, any idea where I should start?" she asked with a soft chuckle, but only silence greeted her.

"Peter?" she called, turning back towards the door, only to find that her uncle was gone. Half-wondering if he had teleported away somewhere, Claire peeked out the door. She was relieved to find Peter a few feet down the hallway, talking to a woman with wavy blonde hair.

She pulled out her digital camera from her purse and began taking pictures of everything in the room. When she was done, she slipped back out into the hallway to rejoin Peter, who was still chatting with the woman.

"All done," Claire announced, putting her camera back into her bag. She smiled at the woman. "Hi."

Peter looked slightly embarrassed as he made the introductions. "Claire, this is Emma. She works at the hospital with me. Emma, this is Claire. She's…"

"A friend of the family," the college student finished.

Petrelli nodded, looking relieved at Claire's half-truth. "She's more like a niece to me, actually," he shared.

"It's nice to meet you, Claire," Emma said. The uneven formation of her words as she spoke made Claire realize she was deaf.

"It's nice to meet you too, Emma," she said.

"Are you from New York?"

Claire glanced at Peter before replying. "No, I'm from Texas, originally. I'm just visiting Peter for a college assignment."

"Claire goes to Arlington University in Virginia."

Emma smiled. "I went to college there too."

"Really?" Claire asked. "That's cool." She pointed down the hall to the blood lab. "I was just in there taking some pictures. Now I just need some help figuring out what all that stuff was."

"I thought you said you were doing a report," Peter remarked.

Claire smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, see, the thing is, I decided to start with taking the pictures instead of the actual…report." She looked up at him hopefully. "But you're a paramedic, right? You probably know about testing blood for stuff."

The corner of Peter's mouth quirked upward into a smile. "Not that much."

"I could help you," Emma volunteered. "I studied Biomedicine at Arlington, then went into med school."

"Really?" Claire and Peter chorused in unison.

Emma grinned and nodded.

"So, are you a doctor here?" Claire asked.

Emma's smile faded. "No, I didn't complete my residency. I work in the file room now."

"That's where we met," Peter added.

Claire watched as her uncle gave Emma a smile and made her relax. She then had to pretend to check the contents of her purse to hide the sly grin on her face. When she looked back up, Claire prepared herself for breaking the moment between the older adults.

"I'd really appreciate the help, Emma," she spoke up.

Coolidge nodded. "Let's go to my office. I can look at the pictures you took and help you identify what's in them."

Peter checked his watch. "I need to get ready for my next shift. Claire, I'll meet you at Emma's office when I'm done, okay?"

The former cheerleader nodded. "Sure."

Peter waved goodbye to them both before breaking into a jog towards the hospital's locker room to get his things for his shift.

Emma and Claire continued on to the file room.

"Who's your teacher for the assignment?"

"Professor Campbell." Claire made a face, making the older woman smile and nod in understanding.

"Does he still announce the highest and lowest grades in the class—"

"After every quiz and test?" Claire finished knowingly. "You bet."

They went into Emma's office, where the file clerk pulled up another chair to her desk for her guest. She sat down behind her desk and Claire showed her the pictures she had taken on her camera.

Emma went through each picture, explaining to Claire what piece of equipment was featured and what its purpose was. Peter's niece diligently took notes, and the time flew by.

When they had finished going over the photos, Claire put down her pen and stretched her arms over her head while Emma began going over a file folder's contents.

"So, how long have you known Peter?" the teenager casually asked.

"Not long, just a few weeks."

"Are you dating him?"

Emma glanced up at Claire and caught the sparkle of mischief in her eye. She leaned forward in her chair, locking gazes with the younger woman. "He's a good man," she said seriously.

Claire's expression sobered as she nodded at the gentle rebuke. "You're right. He is. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried." She remembered the night of her high school homecoming, the night Peter had saved her from Sylar. He had been willing to sacrifice his own life to save hers, not knowing that his body would regenerate at the time.

"He saved my life once." Emma's voice woke Claire from her reverie. Her words made the college freshman smile, as they mirrored her own thoughts.

"That's Peter," she said lightly. "He's a real hero."

A knock sounded on the wall outside of Emma's office. "Hey, guys, I'm done with my shift," Petrelli greeted as he came inside. "Did you get enough information for your report, Claire?"

His niece nodded. "I think so." She got to her feet, gathering her things and giving Emma a wide smile. "Thanks again for the help."

"You're welcome." She walked Claire out of her office, but Peter hung back.

"Uh, Claire, could you give me a second? I'll be right there," he told her.

She nodded and walked down the hallway towards the lobby.

Peter put a hand on Emma's back, guiding her back inside the office. "Thanks for helping out Claire. I hope she wasn't too much trouble. I totally forgot she was coming by today."

"It was no trouble. We had a nice talk."

His eyes widened with curiosity. "About what?"

She smiled. "This and that." She steered him toward her door. "You'd better go. Claire's waiting."

"I was going to take her somewhere to eat. You could come with us," he offered.

"I have to catch up on my work," she replied. "But maybe next time."

His face brightened at the prospect, and it made her smile. He grinned back, and they stared at each other for a moment, only to be blinded by a camera's flash a second later.

"That's a good one," Claire commented, studying the photo she had just taken. "I'll send Peter an extra print for you to have," she promised Emma before darting back down the hallway.

Peter shot the file clerk an apologetic look before dashing out the door after his niece.

Emma returned to her desk, feeling amused by Claire's behavior and looking forward to seeing that picture.


End file.
